WHEN:February 12th—21st Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30, with a post-show party on Friday the 13th with DJ Hipshaker

WHERE:Interact Center / Colonial Warehouse Building, 212 3rd Avenue North.Please enter through the Inside Out Gallery on North 2nd Street; the performance will unfold throughout the building from there.Seating available; the building is 100% accessible.

(Minneapolis, MN)Prior to and following Harold Pinter’s death on Christmas Eve, a consortium of local independent artists and researchers have been mining Harold Pinter’s large body of work for performance.For two weekends in February three of his short works and one original piece inspired by Pinter’s memory plays will unfold throughout a Minneapolis warehouse in the North Loop neighborhood.

Using the work of Harold Pinter as a binding element, the Mpls Pinter Studies is a laboratory for theatre artists.Curate Scotty Reynolds states, “I began this project to discover a consciousness of process in the field of performance creation, to create a forum for artists to engage in conscious text exploration, to open up exchange among directors and to configure a lively and exiting look at the work of rich and relevant writer.”

Harold Pinter died on Christmas Eve 2008 after a prolonged battle with cancer.His output as a writer slowed in his last decade, but he remained in the public eye in landmark performances of Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape and his many public appearances as a staunch critic of US foreign policy.In 2005 he solidified his place as one of the most influential dramatic writers of the last century with the Nobel Prize for literature.

The Mpls Pinter Studies will present a wide range of work from Pinter’s oeuvre.His work is noted for its sharp use of language, ambiguous dramatic situations and monumental power struggles (veiled with language and silence—the famous Pinter pause).He is well known in the theatrical canon for plays like Betrayal, The Homecoming, Old Times, and The Caretaker (recently seen in the Guthrie’s Joe Dowling Studio this fall).Included in this evening will be one Pinter’s earliest works (The Black and White), a short piece original written for BBC Radio (Family Voices), one of Pinter’s most politically fevered works (One for the Road)and one original piece (These are the Men).

Curate Scotty Reynolds, director of the Ivey Award winning Broken Brain Summit, has gathered a range of noted Twin Cities theatre artists.Celebrated actor Terry Hempleman (a Penumbra Theatre and Jungle Theatre favorite) has taken a break between projects to direct a piece featuring his wife Camilla Little following his success with the premier of American Sublime in 2005.As artistic director of her theatre company, Nightpath Theatre, Maggie Scanlan has taken on many classics of the European cannon.Her recent production of How I Learned to Drive with Theatre Unbound was named one of Lavender Magazine’s Best Productions of 2008.Jeffry Lusiak has led Outward Spiral Theatre for the last four years, creating original social change theatre and events with the queer community.In 2008 Jeffry was acknowledge by the DIVA foundation for his work.Blake E. Bolan is breaking fast onto the Minneapolis theatre scene following collaborations with Skewed Visions and assistant directing with Theatre de la Jeune Lune in their final season.

Each is taking on a unique piece in this evening of performance.

Family Voices, directed by Jeffry Lusiak

A series of letters between the son and mother give a glimpse of the son’s seedy and colorful existence in the city and the crumbling, desperation of the home he left.Originally written for the radio in 1981, the futility of communication and the fragility of memory tangle this multi-media installation.

The Black and White, directed by Terry Hempleman

A selection from Pinter’s Revue Sketches, this piece portrays the minutia of a woman’s life in terrifying ambiguity and heartbreakingly human detail. The bus, the cafe, and the listener are the touchstones she clings to in a strange world.

One for the Road, directed by Maggie Scanlan

One of Pinter’s most political works, this 1984 play explores the human desire to dominate and control.Nicolas interrogates his prisoners, a couple and their young son.We witness Nicolas’ mastery as he creates exquisite terror probing the weaknesses of human connection and affection.

These Are the Men, written and directed by Blake E. Bolan

An original exploration of truth and lies, presence and absence and personal mystery.This short work is a journey into the intimate spaces of Oedipus, with Harold Pinter’s aesthetic and unease as our lens.

The action will promenade through multiple interiors as a gallery of performance installations.The audience will be guided in groups through various venues and configurations within the Colonial Warehouse Building.Docents will guide the audience moving through three floors of the building.Seating and elevators are available.The building and performance is fully accessible.

MPLS PINTER STUDIES

Performance Calendar

Presented at the Interact Center / Colonial Warehouse Building

Thursday, February 12th7:30

Friday, February 13th7:30(post-show Swinging 60s Dance Party with Hipshaker)

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[…] their craft through the work of Harold Pinter. Their collaborative exercise culminates in the Minneapolis Pinter Studies — site-specific performances at Interact Theater, in the Colonia Warehouse. 3-Minute Egg […]